The Chad Frye - Illustration GuyEveryone get their taxes sent in by today?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d want to get that close to duck tails (wooOOoo). A little ink and watercolor from my brown paper sketchbook.
Okay, we are now into our second full week of 2021. Are you marching forward into the year with confidence, ready to take on the challenges that lie ahead? If so, be prepared to battle heffalumps and woozles!
By the way, I created this piece for a friend who recently gave birth to her first child. Nothing says “welcome to the world” like Pooh. Take that however you’d like.
Yes, there’s magic in the air. Literally with this drawing. Mickey, as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, just seems to be wasting magic in the air. Sheesh. You’d think he’d at least make a broom come to life or something!
Here’s hoping the magic translates into 2021. The world needs it badly!
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Disney’s comedy feast The Emperor’s New Groove directed by Mark Dindal! This film holds a special place in my heart, for it was the first big Hollywood production on which I received screen credit! To celebrate, I created a new drawing to mark the occasion!
I actually started at Disney on Mulan, and also worked on Tarzan and Fantasia 2000 before this, but back in those days, the studio didn’t give screen credit to everyone like they do now. I wasn’t a production artist on the films, but rather was considered “support staff” with my computer job.
New Groove was such an interesting journey. It started as a musical drama called Kingdom of the Sun, later changed to Kingdom in the Sun (that’s what all those songs were written for that are on the soundtrack), before changing to the comedy that folks have come to love.
If you are ever curious to know the sordid details of the production journey, Trudie Styler (Sting’s wife) made a documentary about it called The Sweatbox that while never having been released to the public other than a short Oscar qualifying run in theaters 20 years ago, it does pop up every now and then on youTube.
Hard to believe all this was twenty years ago. I feel privileged to have been able to be a part of it. Of anything I have ever worked on, this is the project that lights up the most eyes when folks hear I was involved with it.
So, celebrate with me in this special birthday for a special Disney movie!
Captain Mickey here as Steamboat Willie turns the ripe old age of 92 TODAY! That’s right, Mickey and Minnie both were born this day in cinemas in their first cartoon way back in 1928.
The mouse has held up well over the years. We should all be so fortunate.
Now that it’s August, we’ve officially reached those hazy, lazy days of summer. It’s the kind of time that is best spent in the shade by a stream with your best buddy. There’s a slight breeze, the sound of bees buzzing nearby, and without a care in the world.
This original 11×15″ watercolor and colored pencil illustration is for sale. $800, shipping included if in the United States.
Since April 15 is usually the day, it seems awfully odd to me to type this today, but 2020’s tax day is finally upon us TODAY. I think ol’ Uncle $crooge here is oblivious to that fact, because no doubt he owes a few sheckels to Uncle Sam.
You know, two cartoonists most influenced me when I was a child. The first was Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. The second was Carl Barks, the man who invented many characters for his Disney comics stories such as Scrooge McDuck, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, Magica DeSpell, and the list goes on. He also invented the idea of ol’ Scroogey being able to swim through his three cubic acres of cash as if it was water off a duck’s back.
This is my take on a classic pose Barks drew his signature character in many times in many of the 500 stories he did for Disney comics. If you don’t know his work, definitely use some of your tax refund this year to pick up some of the great hardcover reprints that have been published by Fantagraphic Books in the past few years!
Today is the 100th birthday of the late torch singer Peggy Lee. Not only was she the voice of Peg, the Siamese cats, and Darling in Disney’s original animated Lady & the Tramp, but she co-wrote all the songs!
I had a short fling myself with Lady & the Tramp some years ago. I drew an official coloring book based on the movie before ever entering the animation business in Hollywood. It’s been a while since drawing these characters, but it was fun to revisit them in my sketchbook. They are such appealing designs, and so wonderfully animated in the 1955 original film. It’s no wonder that beautiful film lives on in the hearts of each new generation that comes along.
While Ms. Lee had a long career as a songstress, it is certainly her work with Lady & the Tramp that ensures her legacy.
